Quake Outcasts – Fresh High Court Proceedings

Quake Outcasts v The Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery & Chief Executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority

This afternoon the Quake Outcasts group filed new proceedings in the High Court at Christchurch against the Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery and the Chief Executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority.

Grant Cameron, Solicitor for the Quake Outcasts said “the action seeks judicial review of the Crown’s recent decision to make a fresh offer to purchase properties from uninsured property owners in red zones. In March 2015 the Supreme Court issued a judgment in the Quake Outcasts favour with two main findings - that red zoning decisions by government were unlawful, and that offers to purchase land from uninsured red zone property owners had been unlawfully made and would need to be done again”.

“At that time many of our clients held hope that the Minister would quickly review the Supreme Court decision, take appropriate advice and make an early decision so that they could actually start to recover from the earthquakes like the rest of the community, but such hope was misplaced” he said.

“Although the Supreme Court determined that use of a Recovery Plan under the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Act was now ‘too late’, CERA initiated just such a process. We consider that was a waste of time and money and was never required”.

“In turn, having been directed to make new and lawful offers to the Quake Outcasts group, the government has produced a wholly inappropriate fresh offer by offering the group 100% of 2007 RV for land only, ignoring the value of improvements” said Mr Cameron.

“We believe the new offer is also unlawful because it completely ignores the key findings of the Supreme Court”.

“Given that the Supreme Court expressly noted the pitiful plight of the many residents still trapped in red zones, or otherwise being unable to properly recover from the earthquakes, it is very concerning that further legal proceedings are required to correct this injustice. We believe there are continuing human rights breaches and that the government is acting unlawfully in a number of respects”.

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